"Should the Rockets have fired Rudy?" and "Having fired Rudy, is Jeff Van Gundy the right guy?" are two completely separate questions. If consulted, I'd say no to the first and yes to the second. I felt the Rox improved just enough last year to justify letting Rudy run the team another year. Yet I still think that Van Gundy's the best guy for the job from among who was available. Anyone who is withholding support for JVG out of respect for Rudy, consider this: Rudy T. is one of the kindest and most generous people in basketball (see the Feinstein book), and would hate nothing more than for people to bear the Rockets any kind of ill will on his account.
rudy already had the llove and passion here....while that worked great for the old dudes, these young new guys need some rock solid instructions on what to do and how to run the game. maybe van gundy isnt the best for the job, but hes the best one left and hes a lot better than rudy.
Why does everyone assume Rudy T was fired? We can speculate all day on what really happened. But all that talking is just speculation. So comparing JVG and Rudy is pointless. Rudy stepped down and he had to be replaced. JVG is more than qualified for this job, Compare JVG to the other coaches available.
haven is right, No one here knows how this change will turn out. No LB, so what, did anyone really believe he wanted to come here for less money? And before you INSIST the team spend whatever it takes to get LB, question? DID YOU GO TO ANY GAMES LAST SEASON? And was the big fat contracts for Kato, etc. OK then? It's not your money to spend. The owner has the option and he choose to not out bid Detroit. That's life.
Personally, I wouldhave like a guy like Cleamons to bring in the triangle and run this team. In reality, I don't make the decisions, but I don think JVG can get this team to 50 wins real fast. What kind of style will it be? Probably like the Spurs and the 94 Rockets offense. Defensively, although numbers will dispute it, they will be better. Without having a shot blocker, the knicks had some good defensive teams. I think if he can and should get 96-97 pts out of this team, they will be good enough to hold teams down to 92-93 ppg and win 50 games. Dicispline,direction are what this team needed and for intended purposes, i think JVG will bring this to them. He's a good coach and has had time off to recharge his battery, so he will be ready to sink into the team.
I see what your problem is ... bad math ... Out of 7 seasons, the 1st season he only coached 23 games, the 4th 50 games (strike shortened), the last season 19 games. He won 43, 48, 50, 57 games the other 4 seasons. And this was done with various injuries to his line-ups. It looks pretty good to me.
Defense wins championships. Having an anchor like Hakeem was a bonus. First of all he will have the ball double-teamed on a screen instead of falling back. How many times have we seen Stockton, Bibby, Jackson, JWill, Bryant nail the open jumper after the Rockets played under the screen instead of doubleteam the ball. It causes fits for the other team and disrupts the flow of their offense just a bit more. As for the offense, we have many more playmakers that JVG had at his disposal in NY. JVG had Ewing(petrified), LJ(peanut-brittle), Camby(even worse than LJ), Houston(the most overrated & overpaid player in the history of the NBA-well except for John Koncak-yes!!). Here he has young talent that can wreak havoc in a half court offense and speed to run in the open court. JVG now has abilities at his disposal that he only could wish for in NY. Great pick-up for the Rockets.
Sleepy really distorted the facts like you mentioned Rage Fire. How are you suppose to win 50+ games in a season where he only coaches 23, 50 and 19. Sleepy I think we all get your point that you think Van Gundy is overrated, but you lose credibility when you distort the facts to make your point.
Dumbleavy? Cute. Yes, Van Gundy brings the disciplinarian tag but discipline alone will not be enough to elevate this team in the Western Conference. The effectiveness of his offensive and defensive systems and team's ability to execute them will be the decisive factor in whether or not the Rockets make the playoffs.
The 19 games he was 10-9 and quit I know my math. And I know stabilty which Van Gundy has not been around long enough to say that he is a stable coach. Yes I do go to the games to answer another question? I'm a season ticket holder. The thread about a trade for Spree is another example why Gundy will not be that right fit in Houston.
Does 9/11 mean anything to you? Did you lose anyone close to you because of it? Don't you think you might evaluate your life and want to have some time off with your family if you did lose someone? I think Jeff needed some time to rethink his priorities in life. I think it's time to let this Sleepy troll go back to sleep. B
At very least we will have a very good Defensive team under Mr. Van Gundy. Take a look around....the two BEST defensive teams are in the finals!
Everybody has an opinion. I backed the Rockets 110%. I hope I'm proved wrong. But I dont think this change is the change to get the Rockets over the hill. As I said that doesn't mean I'm not a fan. I'm a Rocket fan until I die. I was at the games that made CLutch City and I would love for this city to regain Clutch City again.
I could not agree more. My thoughts too. Besides the hasn't even coached a game for us yet, let's give him a chance before we start these types of threads.
This is just great. I'm so disappointed with the way CD had screwed up my beloved Rockets in just a few short months. First, he fires a hall of fame coach and now we must settle on on our second choice for a coach. Everyone knows that Larry Brown was the Rox first choice for a head coach, but beacuse CD didn't pull the trigger when he had the chance, we are stuck with JVG. You though we played ugly ball last year? Just wait... I have a feeling that the games will get even uglier. I probably shouldn't worry about it and look forward to our next coaching hire ('cause its just a matter of time before JVG quits like he did in NYC - once a quitter, always a quitter). In the meantime, I suppose we'll go back to the ol' "choke city" days. Well, let's hope that that is one thing Ewing won't teach Yao (a prospect that makes me sick, especially considering that Hakeem's and Malone's jerseys are/will be hanging from the rafters). I sure hope I'm wrong. Hakeem = strong, clutch Ewing = weak, choke
Its hard to take anyone with "NYKRule" as their handle seriously. Isn't there a place for Knick lovers somewhere else? I thought this was a Rockets thread.
Don't blame CD, all of the above came courtesy of Les Alexander. He fired RT (Dawson didn't even know about it until the day it went down), and JVG was reportedly Les' pick all the way.
